Dear Coach,
I know I’ve never met you and for the longest time, I didn’t even know your name, but I thought you should know that I see you every day. I know you don’t know me, but I thought you should know that I know you as well as I know anyone. Please, let me explain.
You come around every year as the sun sets on that final summer day in July. Then, once the sun rises (and often before it) in August, you are here, in my days, full force. You are here in the background all year round, but when football season is on the horizon, you are impossible to miss. I know you. I see you. You make me so proud, and you don’t even know it.
You see, you were my husband’s football coach once upon a time. Every day that my husband leaves the house before dawn, it’s because of you. Every fall, when he teaches young men a game that takes the very best of him and often leaves him wishing he could do more, it’s because of you. And for that, I want to thank you.
I know you are out there somewhere because every one of these in-season warrior coaches has one of you.
THAT coach. The coach who changed the entire trajectory of a young man’s life because of his presence and influence.
I know my husband. He is stubborn. He is difficult and intent on doing things his way. I can only imagine how that must have looked when he was your athlete. I smile and a little when I imagine the young man in football pads, challenging you every step of the way, knowing you never quit him.
I know what it must have taken for you to guide him down the path to the life he has now. He spends his days in the trenches of this game, using it to give young men the strength of character they will need to be successful in life. He does that because you did that for him once upon a time.
When I watch him on Friday nights, the bond he has with his athletes, the pure joy he has when they succeed, and the pain he feels when they fail, I know it’s like watching you out there, Coach. I don’t know if it’s in the way he talks to them, how he glares when they don’t listen, or how he picks them up when they fail, but I am 100% positive you are there. Every young man he gets across that finish line with a diploma and plans for his life; you are there too.
You are the reason I go weeks on end missing my husband. You are also a big part of why he is a man worth missing. You are the reason my heart swells with pride when I watch him coach because you are the reason he puts his heart and soul into this game. I know you, and I know you must be an amazing man and an all-in kind of coach because that is the kind of coach you inspired him to be.
Sincerely,
A Proud Coach’s Wife
